PI's recommendations to amend draft instrument on private military and security companies

We have submitted targeted textual recommendations to strengthen the Revised Fifth Draft Instrument by integrating the right to privacy throughout the text in order to address the growing use of surveillance technologies by private military and security companies (PMSCs). The draft instrument was discussed during the Seventh session of the open-ended intergovernmental working group to elaborate the content of an international regulatory framework, without prejudging the nature thereof, relating to the activities of private military and security companies.

When the mandate for the Working Group was established in 2017, surveillance technologies were not featuring significantly in the services provided by PMSCs. Now, as noted by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in his opening remarks, PMSCs increasingly engage in surveillance, personal data processing, and the deployment of data-driven technologies are core elements of their operations. Rapid technological advancement has led PMSCs to increasingly prioritise private surveillance, data harvesting, and cyber operations over more traditional security functions.  And private companies providing surveillance services for security and/or military purposes are PMSCs.

As noted by many member-state delegations and other stakeholders during the 7th session, including the Chair of the UN Working Group on the use mercenaries, the draft instrument should strive to be ‘future proof’. However, the current draft does not adequately reflect the current realities of PMSC’s reliance on surveillance technologies, leaving a significant regulatory gap that undermines compliance with binding international human rights obligations.

Our recommendations aim to fill this gap drawing on language which has vast support, including wordings from UN General Assembly and Human Rights Council resolutions adopted by consensus. They follow the structure of the draft instrument  and propose amendments to existing provisions, as well as a small number of new additions — modelled on the instrument's existing approach to weapons regulation — to ensure that privacy and data protection are treated as substantive safeguards rather than mere limitations on transparency.